Spurs 1-2 Aston Villa

Tottenham were booed as the pressure continued on Thomas Frank after losing 2-1 to Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round.

Three days after Bournemouth’s last-minute win worsened the mood between away fans and Tottenham players, conditions at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have worsened again.

Frank and his team were booed at half-time after Emi Buendia’s fierce strike put Villa ahead and Morgan Rogers doubled the lead to capitalize on another poor, dull and toothless display from Spurs.

Amid clear discontent and growing signs of disconnect from Tottenham supporters, Frank was serenaded by chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” and “Frank is an Arsenal fan” from the traveling faithful, referencing the Arsenal Cup he held until the midweek defeat.

But despite the silence and indifference creeping in from the home crowd, Tottenham responded with a well-earned goal from Wilson O’Dobert after the break to swing the momentum in their favour.

The boos quickly turned to encouragement as a rejuvenated Spurs equalized.

Odobert, Mathys Tel and Xavi Simons all went close before Marco Bizot was brought on to ensure Villa’s slim lead remained intact, but a poor performance to start the game ultimately meant there was only so much they could do against a resilient Villa side.

Tottenham are now out of the Cup as a result of their 10th defeat of the season under Frank, and the frustration following that sending-off still boiled over at full-time with boos.

Bournemouth away duo Joao Palhinha and Micky van de Ven found themselves at the center of another scuffle as the former reacted to Ollie Watkins’ congratulations after the final whistle.

Palhinha pushed Villa forward, approaching Villa supporters before Rogers and Van de Ven intervened to diffuse the situation. The rest of the players on both sides quickly followed suit, with Frank watching from a safe distance in disbelief.

After the match, Frank criticized Watkins for provoking Palhinha with his celebration. “We lost a tight game, the season is not going perfectly and Ollie is very irritated,” he told the post-match press conference.

“He can get around easily. Anyone with a competitive nature can cause a situation.”

Attention on Villa may turn to Monday evening’s fourth-round draw, but Frank will have to put the pieces together of another defeat to prepare for the London derby with West Ham on January 17. This could be classed as a must-win performance for the Spurs manager.

Full-time chaos! Palhinha was again involved in post-match drama.

Frank reacted to boos by saying he was ‘disappointed’

tottenham president thomas frank:

“It’s disappointing, we’re all hurt and there’s nothing we want more than to get to the next round.

“We played at home and had a good chance but unfortunately we didn’t get through. We gave it our all.

“We all know there is only one way to make everyone happy and that is to consistently perform and win games.

“We could see how they fed off each other, the players and the fans. Unfortunately, we were not able to make those fantastic comebacks that can get the momentum going at times.

“We need to perform and we need them to provide energy, but we need them in these difficult times. They are there and supporting us.”

Emery: “We deserved to beat Tottenham”

aston villa president Unai Emery:

“Of course, for 90 minutes we played with our structure and expected a difficult game.

“It went almost as we had planned: we stopped them, controlled the ball, maintained possession and scored two goals.

“We expected them to push more and show character after the first half. We had to be ready to be resilient. We gave away a goal and a few chances. We needed Marco Vizzo to stop us.

“We bounced back like we did in the first half. With our momentum and drive after 90 minutes, I think we deserved this win.”